swanton] EARL'S HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 237 
of pasl injuries. They all raised their voices in a furious wail, bemoaning the deaths 
of their relatives and friends. They Bhed many tears as well for the loss of then 
dead as for the affront to the living. Moved to compassion, the Spaniards tried to 
console them, hut for a very long time the demonstrations of mourning did not 
them a chance for a Bingle word, nor could they do more than go around the square 
with extraordinary signs of compassion or sorrow for their friends or of wrath against 
their enemies Then they [the Indians] got hold of one of the hatchets which the 
Spaniards had broughl with them, and they cut down the dried out tree close to 
the ground, taking the scalps to bury them with the superstitious practices of their 
kind. With all this they became so furious and tilled with vengeance, that 
everyone of them wished to have many hands and to be able to lay them all on the 
Napochies. They went from house to house looking for someone like enfuriated 
lions and they found only a poor strange Indian [from another tribe] who was ill 
and very innocent of those things, but as blind vengeance does not stop to consider, 
they tortured the poor Indian till they left him dying. Before he expired though, 
the good father Fray Domingo reached his side and told him, through the interpreter 
he had brought along, that if he wished to enjoy the eternal blessings of heaven, he 
should receive the blessed water of baptism and theieby become a Christian. He 
furthei gave him a few reasonings, the shortest possible as the occasion demanded, 
but the unfortunate I ndian, with inherent idolatry and suffering from his fresh wounds, 
did not pay any attention to such good council, but delivered his soul to the demon 
as his ancestors before him had done. This greatly pained the blessed Father Do- 
mingo, because, as his greatest aim was to save souls, their loss was his greatest sorrow. 
When the vindictive fury of the Coza people could not find any hostile Napochies 
on whom to vent itself, they wanted to burn the whole village and they started to 
do so. This cruelty caused much grief to the merciful Fray Domingo de la Anun- 
ciacion, and upon his plea the captain told the people of Coza to put out the fires, 
and the same friar, through his interpreter, condemned their action, telling them that 
it was cowardice to take vengeance in the absence of the enemies whose flight, if 
ii meant avowal of their deficiency, was so much more glory for the victors. All 
the courage which the Athenians and the Lacedemonians showed in their wars was 
nullified by the cruelty which they showed the vanquished. "How can we know," 
said the good father to the Spaniards, "whether the Indians of this village are not 
perhaps hidden in these forests, awaiting us in some narrow pass to strike us all down 
with their arrows'.' Don't allow, brethren, this cruel destruction by lire, so that God 
may not permit your own deaths at the hands of the inhabitants of this place [these 
houses]." The captain urged the cacique to have the fire stopped; and as he was 
tardy in ordering it, the captain told him in the name of Fray Domingo, that if the 
village was really to be burnt down, the Spaniards would all return because 
they considered this war of the fire as waged directly against them by burning down 
the houses, where was the food which they all needed so greatly at all times. Fol- 
lowing this menace, the cacique ordered the Indians to put out the fire which had 
already made greal headway and to subdue which required the efforts of the whole 
army. When the Indians were all quieted, the cacique took possession of the village 
in company with his principal men and with much singing and dancing, accompanied 
by tin- music of badly tuned flutes, they celebrated their victories. 
The abundance of maize in that village was greater than had been supposed and 
the cacique ordered much of it to be taken to Coza ' so that the Spaniards who had 
remained there should not lack food. His main intention was to reach or find the 
enemy, leaving enough people in that village [of the Napochies] to prove his possession 
and a garrison of Spanish soldiers, which the captain asked for greater security. He 
then left to pursue the fugitives. They left in great confusion, because they did not 
1 Acoca in the original MS. 
